How to Make a Rainbow
by unwinding fantasy
Summary: She's the only reason Kurosaki isn't dead yet. [Ishida x Inoue][1sentence challenge!fic][Complete]


**Title: **_How to Make a Rainbow_  
**Author:** unwinding fantasy (formerly Aqua Phoenix1)  
**Disclaimer:** Don't own _Bleach._  
**Rating: **K+  
**Pairing:** Ishida x Orihime; secondary Ichigo x Rukia  
**Warning:** So much fluff you might choke. If you're especially touchy when it comes to spoilers, avoid #41 (spoiler for beginning of Arrancar arc).  
**Author's Note: **This was written for the LJ community "1sentence" using theme set Beta.

* * *

**#01 -- Walking**  
He keeps a steady pace, surreptitiously watching the girl blabbing about whether rain chose when to fall or why the sea was so wet when all those sponges lived there or what tasted best, your own birthday cake or someone else's -- he can't imagine holding a sane conversation with someone that would run off to dance in rain puddles instead of staying by his side. 

**#14 -- Burning**  
The first time she sees him, she thinks his eyes are cold fire -- the second time they just look lonely.**  
**

**#04 -- Wonder**  
He wonders when the airhead in the second row will just stop talking already and let him concentrate on his damned calculus.

**#15 -- Breathing**  
A gentleman, for both their sakes Ishida takes to avoiding her during PE.

**#20 -- Bane**  
Having wrestled unsuccessfully with the material for the greater part of the afternoon, it's with a defeated sigh that Inoue hands her garment over to the president -- brandishing a quick-unpick, Ishida glares at the knot and dramatically says, "You dare show your face, my arch nemesis?"

**#36 -- Sordid**  
Sewing on buttons without accidentally touching her in places that should remain untouched is pretty hard when she's still wearing the ruined garment -- footsteps screech at the doorway then Tatsuki punches him in the face, Asano rants about perverts and by the end Inoue tends his wounds, gushing about how sorry she is.

**#29 -- Jewel**  
The genuine light of her always-at-the-ready smile never fails to astound him -- it's like unearthing diamonds every time you go digging, even though you're convinced cubic zirconia populate that particular geological stratum.

**#19 -- Balcony**  
The school's annual play and she's cast as Juliet -- Ishida thinks_ Hamlet_ would've been better but doesn't refuse when she asks him to help her rehearse, even if he knows he's just Kurosaki's figurative understudy.

**#17 -- Belief**  
The tiniest flicker of hope shines bright as a supernova when placed in her hands, affirming faith is an astounding thing -- she smiles and tells him, "You don't have to see something to know it exists."

**#05 -- Worry**  
It's Ishida at her door; he passes over her homework, explaining that their names follow each other on the class roll so the teacher asked him to drop it off and he doesn't live that far from here anyway and he's not just using this as a convenient excuse to check up on her -- Inoue lets him talk circles trying to absolve himself of emotion and sets aside her flu to smile gratefully.

**#45 -- Natural**  
He'd never tell her, but the last thing he wants to talk about is Kurosaki's naturally orange hair -- so long as it's a one-sided conversation he's content just listening to her voice.

**#10 -- Weddings**  
Accosted by Kurosaki's younger sister, they're soon roped into overseeing the union of Postoff and Julia in holy matrimony -- Inoue is dubbed maid of honour, deft fingers threading tiny blue and white daisies through flowing chestnut-coloured hair, body emitting romanticism in tidal waves while a desperate Ishida wracks his brain for a way out of playing minister.

**#23 -- Question**  
"Did you see the UFO last night?"**  
**

**#03 -- Wishes**  
Shooting stars are reflected in her eyes -- giving her a level look he corrects, "If wishes were fishes, the entire food-chain would be haywire by now," and evokes easy laughter from Orihime, who's caught off-guard by the fact that he has a sense of humour.

**#13 -- Bias**  
He always liked what he couldn't have.

**#06 -- Whimsy**  
Walking home, the Friday afternoon sun lazily warming their hearts, she mentions they should make the most of their weekend and nearly falls over when solemn Ishida suggests they visit the arcade to take _purikura_ -- her imagination promptly runs off with the image of Ishida-in-photo, fake moustaches, king's crowns, pixie dust and all. **  
**

**#16 -- Breaking**  
He watches her watching Kurosaki.

**#38 -- Sojourn**  
The last of his kind, he's a vagabond, a wanderer, a _ronin_ -- she tells him once in a while he should stop following the map

**#48 -- Virtuous**  
He insists on taking the first watch and spends the remainder of the night trying to ignore the warm body curled against his side.

**#25 -- Quitting**  
Along with _haphazard,_ it's not in his vocabulary.

**#21 -- Quiet**  
What she appreciates most about him is this: while thoughts drift into her whirlwind mind and fly out of her mouth in a thousand bits and pieces, he will stand there with that serious expression on his face and nod as if he can patch fragmented nonsense together as easily as he'd mend a tear in her skirt -- he speaks volumes in what he doesn't say.

**#26 -- Jump**  
He's the look-before-you-leap type; she thinks leap-and-don't-look-back is an easier motto to live by.

**#41 -- Nowhere**  
Just like that, her reiatsu's gone and just like that, his is back, a blazing searchlight seeking out her familiar glow -- fingernails digging into palms until they draw blood, _'I told you to protect her!' _swirls, a furious tempest, through his mind and he finds another reason to hate shinigami.

**#24 -- Quarrel**  
Neither of them are good at it -- Ishida rationalizes and Orihime forgets the point.

**#31 -- Smirk**  
Uppity and superior, his fits perfectly on his face; hers, a rare occurrence, is just downright _scary_.

**#11 -- Birthday**  
He returns the gift to the pet store, thinking because she'd been investigating Western star signs he shouldn't have been so horrified upon unwrapping "Stingy" and "Stabby" -- when Inoue asks about the scorpions, guarding her feelings wins out against telling the truth, so he fixes an extra-serious expression on his face (one he's held in reserve for such an occasion) and utters two words: "Alien abduction."

**#44 -- Near**  
He sighs, realising the only time he's touched her worth remembering was when, forty feet in the air, his shoulder collided with her face.

**#42 -- Neutral**  
She's the only reason Kurosaki isn't dead yet.

**#33 -- Stupidity**  
"_Second_ place?" Orihime teases, a triumphant grin on her face.

**#18 -- Balloon**  
They're putting the finishing touches on the room, all decked out for Inoue's surprise party -- Ishida looks up over the half paper-covered balloon and patiently explains to his bewildered companion, "It's going to be a piñata;" "It's gonna be a good excuse to hit you," Kurosaki sniggers in response.

**#28 -- Jousting**  
The first thing she realizes he's better at than Ichigo: witty retorts.

** #39 -- Share**  
He's clueless as to what those vague-shade-of-white lumps piled on his plate are, but even in all his lack of culinary expertise he's relatively certain what they _aren't_ -- regardless, he shoves one into his mouth, hears Inoue ask, "Is the red bean paste and _fugu_ okay?" and manages to catch Kurosaki mouthing, _'Nice knowing you,' _before passing out.

**#46 -- Horizon**  
A vague curve of the lips, his smile is perpetually out of reach, stuck in no man's land, skimming the horizon -- Orihime resolves to catch and bottle it for a rainy day, and in the mean time lets him borrow hers.

**#43 -- Nuance**  
Everyone thinks that he's the hard one to read, but despite Inoue's open expressions there's a depth of emotion buried in her now-grey, now-hazel eyes

**#07 -- Waste/Wasteland**  
A spool of grey-morning-sky cotton to fix his uniform; the spine of a second-hand chemistry textbook running parallel to the edge of his desk; _sensible _food in his refrigerator -- appalled at his unadventurous spirit, when Ishida re-enters the room she waggles a finger beneath his nose and announces in a mock-stern voice that he's whittled away too much time on life's boring aspects.

**#09 -- War**  
He'd never hit a girl, but when a snowball hurtles into his face for the millionth time Ishida decides to make an exception -- hunched within his makeshift white fortress beside a pile of melting ammo, he mutters maniacally about being a master of projectiles as Inoue calls on their friends for cover fire during her next assault.

**#37 -- Soliloquy**  
When she catches him staring at his reflection, practising all those cool lines ("On my Quincy pride, I will kill you!") uncontrollable giggles bubble out of her mouth, making him start and blush.

**#27 -- Jester**  
Twirling 'round in her cat outfit, she looks him up and down and says it's a wonderful costume, prodding at the bells dangling into his scowling, painted face; embarrassed to be seen showcasing such a fashion disaster, he tells her she has bad taste in clothing _and_ jokes -- Ishida Uryū, the court _fool?_

**#49 -- Victory**  
Their twin phones buzz to life; they exchange a proud grin -- by third period Ishida's flicking through the instruction manual, his inbox filled with thnx's, xox's and :)'s and no clue how to go about disposing the evidence.

**#08 -- Whiskey and Rum**  
A sprig of mistletoe clutched dangerously in her hand, Rukia's chasing Ichigo around the tree, their cacophony of mingled giggles and stumbles creating a funny sort of carol -- slumped on the couch beside Orihime, it's courtesy of the brain-cells he hasn't destroyed that he resists the impulse to kiss her and instead slurs, "Exactly how much rum did you put in this plum pudding anyway?"_  
_

**#30 -- Just**  
If plushies could cry he'd be bawling his shiny black button eyes out -- seeing Orihime-chan walking hand-in-hand with that four-eyed freak, Kon's convinced there's no justice in the world._  
_

**#34 -- Serenade**  
Unsteady on their feet, Ichigo and Uryū stumble up-stage as the bar bursts into raucous laughter -- the pair stutter and slur about aesthetics and identities while Orihime, suspicion spiked, alternates between sniffing Uryū's drink and casting wary glances at Rukia, who winks, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.

**#47 -- Valiant**  
Even though his flip-flopping stomach has suffered enough abuse in its lifetime, Ishida still manages to eat whatever she puts in front of him.

**#02 -- Waltz**  
Simple and predictable, her anti-thesis -- he can't stop his eyebrows from rising over the top of his spectacles when she wraps his arm around her waist and begins leading the dance.

**#40 -- Solitary**  
After years of being ambushed by genuine laughter, spur-of-the-moment questions and indigestion, Ishida eventually decided it was better to be alone with company.

**#32 -- Sorrow**  
Crestfallen, Chizuru whispers, "But he's the wrong gender for you!"

**#35 -- Sarcasm**  
"You and _Inoue?_" falls out of the boy's mouth; Ishida rolls his eyes, trying not to laugh at the other's what-the-_hell?!_ expression and says, "No, Kurosaki, I'm gay."

**#22 -- Quirks**  
Chest swelling impatiently beneath him, brown eyes wide and beseeching, it's with steeled nerves and gritted teeth that Ishida collects his courage and finally overcomes those brassy buttons on her blouse.

**#12 -- Blessing**  
Her hand presses gently around his and laces their fingers, holding him together as he says, "I might at least have your approval," the edge in the words ringing bitter and keen -- "You might," Ryūken says and it's the only answer Ishida gets.

**#50 -- Defeat**  
Orihime takes his hand and pulls him from beneath his umbrella -- laughter drowning out the noisy rain pitter-pattering around them, she drags him into a puddle to teach him how to make rainbows.

* * *

**Notes:**

**-**#06:_ Purikura_ are the instant pictures from Japanese photo booths. After taking them you can edit them with stamps, borders, sparkles etc.

- #36 was inspired by another fanfic, **Pop! Go the Buttons **by ObscureAnimeWriter

- #39: _Fugu_ is blowfish, which is highly poisonous. Even the best chefs have been known to botch this dish.

- #47 will make more sense if you've read manga chap. 193.

- #49: manga!Tatsuki mentions Inoue's so clueless she can't even use a phone. I doubt Ishida would have much experience using such a gadget either.


End file.
